Federal Tax Policy

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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House Tries, Fails at SCHIP Expansion Veto Override

Jan 23, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Republican War on Children's Health continues($). The House failed Wednesday to override President Bush's second veto of a children's health insurance bill, again confounding Democrats' plans to expand government-sponsored health coverage to include an additional four million low-income kids.

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Bipartisan Consensus on Stimulus Package Gathers Momentum

Amid slumping capital markets and real estate values, a jump in unemployment, and a growing chorus of economists forecasting a recession in the U.S., a consensus has rapidly developed in Washington during the first few weeks of the year that a fiscal stimulus package is in order. The watchword in Washington has been "bipartisanship," and President Bush and the congressional Democratic leadership have already made concessions. Some questions remain regarding the optimal structure and size of the package, but indications point to its enactment in a matter of weeks.

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Economic Stimulus Package Update

Jan 23, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Bush, Congress nearing accord, as Administration cedes some ground to Democrats House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), and Congressional Republican leadership met with President Bush last night to discuss the broad outlines of an economic stimulus package. Bush came out of the meeting with a "very positive feeling" while Pelosi was "confident" that a bipartisan agreement could be reached. So, here's what the package is shaping up to be so far - these are the boundaries that will most likely contain the package.

$145 billion

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Lack of Resources and Poor Policies Hurt IRS Mission

A lack of enforcement resources, misplaced priorities, and inefficient policies at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are among the factors perpetuating the federal tax gap, according to a new OMB Watch report released Jan. 15. The report, Bridging the Tax Gap: The Case for Increasing the IRS Budget, illustrates why the IRS has had such a difficult time recovering the more than $300 billion in federal taxes that go unpaid every year and offers some practical solutions to the problem.

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The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2008 to 2018

Jan 23, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The CBO has released its outlook for the budget for 2008 through 2012. Under an assumption that current laws and policies do not change, CBO projects that the budget deficit will rise to 1.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008 from 1.2 percent in 2007. CBO: The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2008 to 2018

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This Time, It's for Real

Jan 22, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Global Markets, Federal Reserve Can't Be Wrong Almost overnight, the masters of the universe have converged on a consensus that the U.S. economy is headed for -- or already in -- a recession. U.S. markets were closed yesterday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday as major indexes fell 7.2 percent in Frankfurt, 7.4 in Mumbai and 5.5 in London. The Dow dropped 400 points in the first hour of trading today.

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Postscript: The President's One Percent Solution

Jan 18, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Bush just finished speaking about a White House stimulus plan in very general terms, the vagueness perhaps reflecting deference to House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's request to hold off on specifics and refrain from "unilaterally detailing his own approach" until a bipartisan plan can be worked out.

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President to Present Principles of Pump-Priming Plan

Jan 18, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has confirmed that President Bush will outline the principal elements of his economic stimulus later today. Capitol Hill aides involved in crafting a congressional package have described the components of the President's plan, as follows:

tax rebates of up to $800 for individuals and $1,600 for couples above the 10 percent tax bracket; those in the 10 percent bracket would receive no rebates
a one-year elimination of the 10 percent bracket; families of four earning between $24,900 and $41,000 would paying no taxes in filing year 2008

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The CAP Plan: Stimulating Debate, not Spending

Jan 17, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Today, the Center for American Progress (CAP) proposed a Practical and Progressive Economic Stimulus and Recovery Plan. The plan's preamble includes some hyperbole: [I]f Washington cannot now take measures to address the short-term weaknesses in the economy, then the first years of the next Administration will be consumed by that challenge—leaving little capacity for progress on health care, the transformation to a low-carbon economy, and creating the conditions for long-term growth and economic opportunity.

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Fed Chief Would Oppose Extension of Bush Tax Cuts

Jan 17, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before the House Budget Committee. Without explicitly saying so, his comments indicate that he believes an economic stimulus package that would extend the 2001-2003 Bush tax cuts would be a bad idea. MarketWatch: "To be useful, a fiscal stimulus package should be implemented quickly and structured so that its effects on aggregate spending are felt as much as possible within the next 12 months or so," Bernanke said. "Any fiscal package should be efficient... Finally, any program should be explicitly temporary." ...

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